


burn the world down

by georgiehensley



Category: Fahrenheit 451 (2018), Fahrenheit 451 - Ray Bradbury
Genre: Angst, Character Death, Character Study, Dystopia, Introspection, M/M, One-Sided Attraction, Pining
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-21
Updated: 2018-05-21
Packaged: 2019-05-09 15:10:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 414
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14718455
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/georgiehensley/pseuds/georgiehensley
Summary: around montag, beatty melts - melts like the wax of a candle beneath its burning wicker. but like the glass jar surrounding a candle, beatty continues to stand tall, keeping the flames burning inside himself instead of letting them show. it’s a secret he holds dear, thesefeelingshe has towards montag. a secret he’d take to the grave.





	burn the world down

**Author's Note:**

> hbo's _fahrenheit 451_ is not a good movie. or, it's not if you're a fan of the book, because as an adaptation? it's pretty mediocre. even so, i'm weak for complex villains, and michael shannon played beatty extremely well despite the bad script. i also couldn't help but see shades of _something_ between them, almost as though the filmmakers were intentionally alluding to beatty having feelings for montag throughout the film. so, i wanted to explore that a little. enjoy!

this world would never allow for them to be together. this world has  _rules_ , rules that forbid freedom of thought and ideas and emotions. emotions are dangerous. thoughts are feared. ideas - what are ideas, anymore? they hardly even exist, deemed illegal by the government.

but love--that’s a word that’s becoming almost meaningless in today’s society. people don’t feel love for one another. everyone just exists as parts of a whole: a whole society, a whole world. and yet--

_and yet._

john beatty knows he feels  _something_  towards guy montag. they’ve known each other for twelve years now; it should be expected for a man like him to grow attached. and that’s all it is, right? an attachment. a routine. a comfort being in his presence.

side by side, they’re lethal, burning books and houses without care. they do so because it’s their job, because they have to. it’s only as the years have gone on that they’ve become so used to it, so numb to the pain the eels must feel at the sight of such treasured belongings turning into nothing but ashes.

around montag, beatty melts - melts like the wax of a candle beneath its burning wicker. but like the glass jar surrounding a candle, beatty continues to stand tall, keeping the flames burning inside himself instead of letting them show. it’s a secret he holds dear, these  _feelings_  he has towards montag. a secret he’d take to the grave.

and that, he does.

they’re surrounded by flames, a fire burning deep into the night. they spread until they’re blindingly bright, trapping them in their place. beatty has two options: he can either let the flames continue in their winding travels, taking them out ever so slowly, or he can pull the trigger on his flamethrower, taking them both out immediately. he pauses to think, watching as montag sends the bird - that damn bird - out into the night, and beatty takes his aim, only to let it go.

he makes his decision quick after that, screaming so loud he grows deaf to it.

there’s something they don’t tell you: fire  _burns_. it burns and it burns, tearing you apart all too slowly. the flames surround beatty until he just can’t feel them anymore, his skin now numb to the heat.

he can’t see montag anymore, not through the flames. it’s all too well. born into the flames, die surrounded by them.

perhaps the next world will be kinder to him; to  _them_.


End file.
